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Famous
Royalty > Henry VIII - King of England
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Henry
VIII
Henry VIII (28 June 1491–28 January 1547) was King
of England and Lord of Ireland (later King of Ireland) from 22 April
1509 until his death. He was the second monarch of the Tudor dynasty,
succeeding his father, Henry VII. He is famous for having been married
six times, and also wielded the most untrammeled power of any British
monarch. Notable events to occur during his reign included the establishment
of the Church of England, the Dissolution of the Monasteries and
the union of England and Wales.
Several significant pieces of legislation were enacted during Henry
VIII's reign. They included several Acts which severed the English
Church from the Roman Catholic Church, the Acts of Union 1536-1543
(which united England and Wales into one nation), the Buggery Act
1533 (the first anti-homosexual enactment in England), and the Witchcraft
Act 1542 (which punished "invoking or conjuring an evil spirit"
with death).
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Henry is known to have been an avid gambler and dice player during
his lifetime. He excelled at sport—especially real tennis—during his
youth. He was also an accomplished musician and poet; according to
legend, he wrote the popular folk song Greensleeves. He was also involved
in the construction and improvement of several buildings, including
King's College Chapel, Hampton Court Palace, Nonsuch Palace and Westminster
Abbey.
Early
life
Born
at the Palace of Placentia, Henry was the third child of Henry VII
and Elizabeth of York. Only three of Henry's six siblings—Arthur (the
Prince of Wales), Margaret and Mary—survived infancy. His father had
become King through conquest, but had solidified his hold by marrying
Elizabeth, the sister and heiress of Edward V.
In 1493, he was appointed Constable of Dover Castle and Lord Warden
of the Cinque Ports. In 1494, the young Henry was created Duke of
York. He was subsequently appointed Earl Marshal of England and Lord
Lieutenant of Ireland, though still a child.
In 1501, he attended the wedding of his elder brother Arthur and Catherine
of Aragon, who were at the time only about fifteen and sixteen years
old, respectively. The two were sent to spend time in Wales, as was
then customary for the heir-apparent and his wife, but Arthur caught
an infection and died. Consequently, at the age of eleven, Henry,
Duke of York found himself heir-apparent to the Throne. Soon thereafter,
he was created Prince of Wales.
Henry VII was still eager to maintain the marital alliance between
England and Spain through a marriage between Henry, Prince of Wales
and Catherine. Since the Prince of Wales sought to marry his brother's
widow, he had to first obtain a dispensation from the Pope. Catherine
maintained that her first marriage was never consummated; if she were
correct, no papal dispensation would have been necessary. Nonetheless,
both the English and Spanish parties agreed on the necessity of a
papal dispensation for the removal of all doubts regarding the legitimacy
of the marriage. Due to the impatience of the Catherine's mother,
Queen Isabella, the Pope hastily granted his dispensation in a Papal
Bull. Thus, fourteen months after her husband's death, Catherine found
herself engaged to the Prince of Wales. By 1505, however, Henry VII
lost interest in an alliance with Spain, and the young Prince of Wales
was forced to declare that his betrothal had been arranged without
his assent.
Early
reign
Henry
ascended the Throne in 1509 upon his father's demise. Catherine's
father, the Aragonese King Ferdinand II, sought to control England
through his daughter, and consequently insisted on her marriage to
the new English King. Henry wed Catherine about nine weeks after his
accession, despite the concerns of Pope Julius II and William Warham,
the Archbishop of Canterbury, regarding the marriage's validity. They
were both crowned at Westminster Abbey on 24 June 1509. Queen Catherine's
first pregnancy ended in stillbirth in 1510. She gave birth to a son,
Henry, in 1511, but he died within two months of his birth.
For about two years after Henry's accession, Richard Fox, the Bishop
of Winchester and Lord Privy Seal, and William Warham controlled matters
of state. From 1511 onwards, however, power was held by the ecclesiastic
Thomas Wolsey. In 1511, Henry joined the Holy League, a body of European
rulers opposed to the French King Louis XII. The League also included
such European rulers as Pope Julius II, the Aragonian King Ferdinand
II and the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I. Henry and Ferdinand also
signed the Treaty of Westminster. Henry personally joined the English
Army as they crossed the English Channel into France, and took part
in sieges and battles.
In 1514, however, Ferdinand left the alliance, and the other parties
made peace with the French. Irritation towards Spain led to discussion
of a divorce with Queen Catherine. However, upon the accession of
the French King Francis I in 1515, England and France grew antagonistic,
and Henry reconciled with Ferdinand. In 1516, Queen Catherine gave
birth to a girl, Mary, encouraging Henry that he could still have
a male heir despite his wife's previous failed pregnancies (one stillbirth,
one miscarriage and two short-lived infants).
Ferdinand died in 1516, to be succeeded by his grandson—Queen Catherine's
nephew—Charles. In 1519, when Maximilian also died, Wolsey—who was
by that time a Cardinal—secretly proposed Henry as a candidate for
the post of Holy Roman Emperor, though supporting the French King
Francis in public. In the end, however, the prince-electors settled
on Charles. The subsequent rivalry between Francis and Charles allowed
Henry to act as a mediator between them. Henry came to hold the balance
of power in Europe. Both Francis and Charles sought Henry's favour,
the former in a dazzling and spectacular manner at the Field of Cloth
of Gold, and the latter more solemnly at Kent. After 1521, however,
England's influence in Europe began to wane. Henry entered into an
alliance with Charles V, and Francis I was quickly defeated. Charles's
reliance on Henry subsided, as did England's power in Europe.
The
King's Great Matter
Henry
VIII's accession was the first peaceful one England had witnessed
in several years. The Tudor dynasty, however, was a new one; its legitimacy
could still be tested. Henry felt that only a male heir could secure
the Throne; no Queen had ever ruled England, and the English people
seemed distrustful of female rulers. Although Queen Catherine had
been pregnant at least seven times (for the last time in 1518), only
one child, the Princess Mary, had survived beyond infancy. Henry had
previously been happy with mistresses, including Mary Boleyn and Elizabeth
Blount, with whom he had had a bastard son, Henry Fitzroy. In 1526,
when it became clear that Queen Catherine could have no further children,
he began to pursue Mary Boleyn's sister, Anne. Anne was not the chief
cause of Henry's attempt to rid himself of Queen Catherine—that designation
most likely appertains to Henry's desire for a male heir.
Henry's long and arduous attempt to end his marriage to Queen Catherine
became known as "The King's Great Matter." Unbeknownst to
Queen Catherine, Cardinal Wolsey and William Warham held an inquiry
into the validity of her marriage to Henry. Queen Catherine, however,
testified that her marriage to Arthur, Prince of Wales had never been
consummated, and that there was therefore no impediment to her subsequent
marriage to Henry. The inquiry could proceed no further, and was dropped.
Without informing Cardinal Wolsey, Henry directly appealed to the
Holy See. He sent William Knight, his secretary, to Rome to argue
that Julius II's Bull was obtained by trickery, and consequently void.
In addition, he requested Pope Clement VII to grant a dispensation
allowing him to marry any woman, even in the first degree of affinity.
(Such a dispensation was necessary because Henry had previously had
intercourse with Anne Boleyn's sister Mary.) Knight found that Pope
Clement VII was practically the prisoner of the Emperor Charles V.
He had difficulty gaining access to the Pope, and when he finally
did, he could accomplish little. Clement VII did not agree to annul
the marriage, but he did grant the desired dispensation, probably
presuming that the dispensation would be of no effect as long as Henry
remained married to Catherine.
Being advised of the King's predicament, Cardinal Wolsey sent Stephen
Gardiner and Edward Foxe to Rome. Perhaps fearing Queen Catherine's
nephew, Charles V, Pope Clement VII originally resisted acquiescing.
Foxe was sent back with a commission authorising the commencement
of proceedings, but the restrictions imposed made it practically meaningless.
Gardiner strove for a "decretal commission," which decided
the points of law beforehand, and left only questions of fact to be
decided. Clement VII was pressured into accepting the proposal; he
permitted Cardinal Wolsey and Lorenzo Cardinal Campeggio to try the
case jointly. His decretal commission was issued in secret; it was
not to be shown to anybody, and was to always remain in Cardinal Campeggio's
possession. Points of law were already settled in the commission:
the Papal Bull authorising Henry's marriage to Catherine was to be
declared void if the grounds alleged therein were false. For instance,
the Bull would be void if it falsely asserted that the marriage was
absolutely necessary to maintain the Anglo-Spanish alliance.
Cardinal Campeggio arrived in England in 1528. Proceedings, however,
were brought to a halt when the Spanish produced a second document
allegedly granting the necessary dispensation. It was asserted that,
a few months before he had granted papal dispensation in a public
Bull, Pope Julius II had secretly granted the same in a private Brief
sent to Spain. The decretal commission, however, only made mention
of the Bull; it did not authorise Cardinal Campeggio and Cardinal
Wolsey to determine the validity of the Brief. For eight months, the
parties wrangled over the authenticity of the Brief. Meanwhile, Queen
Catherine appealed to her nephew, Charles V, for support. Charles
pressured the Pope into recalling Cardinal Campeggio to Rome in 1529.
Angered with Cardinal Wolsey for the delay, Henry stripped him of
his wealth and power. He was charged with præmunire—undermining
the King's authority by agreeing to represent the Pope—but died on
his way to be tried. With Cardinal Wolsey fell other powerful ecclesiastics
in England; laymen were appointed to offices such as those of Lord
Chancellor and Lord Privy Seal, which were formerly confined to clergymen.
Power then passed to Thomas Cranmer (who became Archbishop of Canterbury
in 1532) and Thomas Cromwell (who became Chancellor of the Exchequer
in 1533). On 25 January 1533, Cranmer participated in the wedding
of Henry and Anne Boleyn. In May, Cranmer pronounced Henry's marriage
to Catherine void, and shortly thereafter declared the marriage to
Anne valid. The Princess Mary was deemed illegitimate, and was replaced
as heiress-presumptive by Queen Anne's daughter, the Princess Elizabeth.
Catherine lost the title "Queen," and became the Dowager
Princess of Wales; Mary was no longer a "Princess," but
a mere "Lady." The Dowager Princess of Wales would die of
cancer in 1536.
Religious
upheaval
Considerable
religious upheaval followed Henry's excommunication in July 1533.
Urged by Thomas Cromwell, Parliament passed several Acts that sealed
the breach with Rome in the spring of 1534. The Statute in Restraint
of Appeals prohibited appeals from English ecclesiastical courts to
the Pope. It also prevented the Church from making any regulations
without the King's consent. The Ecclesiastical Appointments Act 1534
required the clergy to elect Bishops nominated by the Sovereign. The
Act of Supremacy 1534 declared that the King was "the only Supreme
Head in Earth of the Church of England"; the Treasons Act 1534
made it high treason, punishable by death, to refuse to acknowledge
the King as such. The Pope was denied sources of revenue such as Peter's
Pence.
Rejecting the decisions of the Pope, Parliament validated the marriage
between Henry and Anne with the Act of Succession 1534. Catherine's
daughter, the Lady Mary, was declared illegitimate, and Anne's issue
were declared next in the line of succession. All adults were required
to acknowledge the Acts' provisions; those who refused to do so were
liable to imprisonment for life. The publisher or printer of any literature
alleging that Henry's marriage to Anne was invalid was automatically
guilty of high treason, and could be punished by death.
Opposition to Henry's religious policies were quickly suppressed.
Several dissenting monks were tortured and executed. Cromwell, for
whom was created the post of "Viceregent in Spirituals",
was authorised to visit monasteries, ostensibly to ensure that they
followed royal instructions, but in reality to assess their wealth.
In 1536, an Act of Parliament allowed Henry to seize the possessions
of the lesser monasteries (those with annual incomes of £200
or less).
In 1536, Queen Anne began to lose Henry's favour. After the Princess
Elizabeth's birth, Queen Anne had two pregnancies that ended in either
miscarriage or stillbirth. Henry VIII, meanwhile, had begun to turn
his attentions to another lady of his court, Jane Seymour. Perhaps
encouraged by Thomas Cromwell, Henry had Anne arrested on charges
of using witchcraft to trap Henry into marrying her, of having adulterous
relationships with five other men, of incest with her brother George
Boleyn, Viscount Rochford, of injuring the King and of conspiring
to kill him—which amounted to treason. (The charges were most likely
fabricated.) The court trying the case was presided over by Anne's
own uncle, Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk. In May 1536, the Court
condemned Anne and her brother to death, either by burning at the
stake or by decapitation, whichever the King pleased. The other four
men Queen Anne had allegedly been involved with were to be hanged,
drawn and quartered. Lord Rochford was beheaded soon after the trial
ended; the four others implicated had their sentences commuted from
hanging, drawing and quartering to decapitation. Anne was also beheaded
soon thereafter. One may note that her marriage to Henry was annulled
shortly before her execution. Hence, since Anne was officially not
married to Henry, neither she nor the five men already executed could
have committed adultery. This subtle point, however, was conveniently
ignored.
Days after Anne's execution in 1536, Henry married Jane Seymour. The
Act of Succession 1536 declared Henry's children by Queen Jane to
be next in the line of succession, and declared both the Lady Mary
and the Lady Elizabeth illegitimate, excluding them. The King was
granted the power to further determine the line of succession in his
will. Jane gave birth to a son, the Prince Edward, in 1537, and died
two weeks thereafter.
At about the same time as his marriage to Jane Seymour, Henry granted
his assent to the Act of Union 1536, which formally annexed Wales,
uniting England and Wales into one nation. The Act provided for the
sole use of English in official proceedings in Wales, inconveniencing
the numerous speakers of the Welsh language.
Henry continued with his persecution of his religious opponents. In
1536, an uprising known as the Pilgrimage of Grace broke out in northern
England. To appease the rebellious Roman Catholics, Henry agreed to
allow Parliament to address their concerns. Furthermore, he agreed
to grant a general pardon to all those involved. He kept neither promise,
and a second uprising occurred in 1537. As a result, the leaders of
the rebellion were convicted of treason and executed. In 1538, Henry
sanctioned the destruction of shrines to Roman Catholic Saints. In
1539, England's remaining monasteries were all dissolved, and their
property transferred to the Crown. As a reward for his role, Thomas
Cromwell was created Earl of Essex. Abbots and priors lost their seats
in the House of Lords; only archbishops and bishops came to comprise
the ecclesiastical element of the body. The Lords Spiritual, as members
of the clergy with seats in the House of Lords were known, were for
the first time outnumbered by the Lords Temporal.
Later
years
Henry's only surviving son, the Prince Edward, Duke of Cornwall, was
not a healthy child. Therefore, Henry desired to marry once again
to ensure that a male could succeed him. Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl
of Essex suggested Anne, the sister of the Protestant Duke of Cleves,
who was seen as an important ally in case of a Roman Catholic attack
on England. Hans Holbein the Younger was despatched to Cleves to paint
a portrait of Anne for the King. After regarding Holbein's flattering
portrayal, and urged by the complimentary description of Anne given
by his courtiers, Henry agreed to wed Anne. When Anne arrived in England,
Henry is said to have found her utterly unattractive. Nonetheless,
he married her on 6 January 1540.
Soon thereafter, however, Henry desired to end the marriage, not only
because of his personal feelings but also because of political considerations.
The Duke of Cleves had become engaged in a dispute with the Holy Roman
Emperor, with whom Henry had no desire to quarrel. Queen Anne was
intelligent enough not to impede Henry's quest for an annulment. She
testified that her marriage was never consummated. The marriage was
subsequently annulled on the grounds that Anne had previously been
contracted to marry another European nobleman. She received the title
of "The King's Sister," and was granted Hever Castle, the
former residence of Anne Boleyn's family. The Earl of Essex, meanwhile,
fell out of favour for his role in arranging the marriage, and was
subsequently attainted and beheaded. The office of Vicegerent in Spirituals,
which had been specifically created for him, was not filled, and still
remains vacant.
On 28 July 1540—the same day Lord Essex was executed—Henry married
the young Catherine Howard, Anne Boleyn's first cousin. Soon after
her marriage, however, Queen Catherine may have had an affair with
the courtier Thomas Culpeper. She also employed Francis Dereham—who
was previously informally engaged to her and had an affair with her
prior to her marriage—as her secretary. Thomas Cranmer, who was opposed
to the powerful Catholic Howard family, brought evidence of Queen
Catherine's activities to the King's notice. Though Henry originally
refused to believe the allegations, he allowed Cranmer to conduct
an investigation, which resulted in Queen Catherine's implication.
When questioned, the Queen could have admitted a prior contract to
marry Dereham—which would have made her subsequent marriage to Henry
invalid—but she instead claimed that Dereham had forced her to enter
into an adulterous relationship. Dereham, meanwhile, exposed Queen
Catherine's relationship with Thomas Culpeper.
On 1 December 1541, Culpeper and Durham were executed. Catherine was
condemned not by a trial, but by an Act of Attainder passed by Parliament.
The Act recited the evidence against the Queen, and Henry would have
been obliged to listen to the entire text before granting the Royal
Assent. Because "the repetition of so grievous a Story and the
recital of so infamous a crime" in the King's presence "might
reopen a Wound already closing in the Royal Bosom," a special
clause permitting Commissioners to grant the Royal Assent on the King's
behalf was inserted in the Act. This method of granting the Royal
Assent had never been used before, but, in later reigns, it came to
replace the traditional personal appearance of the Sovereign in Parliament.
Catherine's marriage was annulled shortly before her execution. As
was the case with Anne Boleyn, Catherine Howard could not have technically
been guilty of adultery, as the marriage was officially null and void
from the beginning. Again, this point was ignored, and Catherine was
executed on 13 February 1542. She was only about eighteen years old
at the time.
Henry married his last wife, the wealthy widow Catherine Parr, in
1543. She argued with Henry over religion; she was a Protestant, but
Henry remained a Catholic. Her odious behaviour almost led to her
undoing, but she saved herself by a show of submissiveness. She helped
reconcile Henry with his first two daughters, the Lady Mary and the
Lady Elizabeth. In 1544, an Act of Parliament put them back in the
line of succession after the Prince Edward, Duke of Cornwall, though
they were still deemed illegitimate. The same Act allowed Henry to
determine further succession to the Throne in his will.
Death
Later
in life, Henry was grossly overweight, and possibly suffered from
gout. The theory that he suffered from syphilis is certainly less
than compelling, since neither his children nor his wives are known
to have suffered from any symptoms. In his younger days, however,
he had been a very active man. His increased size dates from a jousting
accident in 1536. He suffered a thigh wound which not only prevented
him from taking exercise, but also gradually became ulcerated and
may have indirectly led to his death, which occurred on 28 January
1547 (the ninetieth anniversary of Henry's father's birth) at the
Palace of Whitehall. Henry VIII was buried in St George's Chapel in
Windsor Castle, next to his wife Jane Seymour.
A mnemonic for the fates of Henry's wives is "divorced, beheaded,
died, divorced, beheaded, survived." (An alternative version
is "King Henry the Eighth, to six wives he was wedded: One died,
one survived, two divorced, two beheaded.") The doggerel, however,
may be misleading. Firstly, Henry was never divorced from any of his
wives; rather, his marriages to them were annulled. Secondly, four
marriages—not two—ended in annulments. (The marriages to Anne Boleyn
and Catherine Howard were annulled shortly before their executions.)
Under the Act of Succession 1544, Henry's only surviving son Edward
inherited the Crown, becoming Edward VI. Edward was the first Protestant
monarch to rule England. Since Edward was only nine years old at the
time, he could not exercise actual power. Henry's will designated
sixteen executors to serve on a council of regency until Edward reached
the age of eighteen. The executors chose Edward Seymour, 1st Earl
of Hertford (Jane Seymour's elder brother) to be Lord Protector of
the Realm. They required, however, that Lord Hertford "not do
any act but with the advice and consent of the rest of the co-executors."
Nonetheless, Lord Hertford seized power to become the sole Regent.
He was overthrown by John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland and executed
for treason. The Duke of Northumberland, however, did not make himself
Lord Protector; instead, he urged Edward to declare his majority before
becoming eighteen years old, thereby transgressing Henry VIII's will.
Under the Act of Succession 1544 and under Henry VIII's will, Edward
was to be succeeded (in default of his issue) by Henry VIII's daughter
by Catherine of Aragon, the Lady Mary. If the Lady Mary did not have
children, she was to be succeeded by his daughter by Anne Boleyn,
the Lady Elizabeth. Finally, if the Lady Elizabeth also did not have
children, she was to be followed by the descendants of Henry VIII's
deceased sister, Mary Tudor, Duchess of Suffolk. Edward VI and his
advisors, however, had different designs. As he lay on his deathbed,
Edward created a will that purported to contradict the provisions
of Henry's will. The Lady Mary and the Lady Elizabeth were excluded
from the line of succession as illegitimate. Frances Brandon, Duchess
of Suffolk (daughter of Mary Tudor, Duchess of Suffolk) was laid aside
because Edward feared that her husband might claim the Crown for himself.
Edward finally settled on the Lady Jane Grey, the daughter of the
Duchess of Suffolk and the daughter-in-law of the powerful Duke of
Northumberland. Upon Edward's decease in 1553, the Lady Jane was proclaimed
Queen. Under the law, however, she should not have succeeded; an Act
of Parliament specifically permitted Henry to devise the Crown in
his will, but no similar legislation had been passed for Edward. Mary
deposed and executed Jane, taking the Crown for herself.
When Mary I died without issue in 1558, she was succeeded by her sister
Elizabeth. Elizabeth I did not marry or name an heir, causing a succession
crisis. To prevent the Scottish from becoming the dynastic family
of Europe, Elizabeth I ordered the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots
to try to prevent her from taking the throne. Under Henry VIII's will,
Elizabeth was supposed to be succeeded by the heir of Mary Tudor,
Duchess of Suffolk (the Lady Anne Stanley). Elizabeth was actually
succeeded, however, by James VI, King of Scots. James VI, King of
Scots was the son of Mary, Queen of Scots. He was already a powerful
ruler in Scotland, and was Elizabeth's closest living relative. He
argued that his hereditary right to succeed was greater than the Lady
Anne's statutory right. James was sufficiently powerful, and his opponents
weak; thus, his succession faced little opposition. James VI became
James I, the first Stuart King of England.
Legacy
In modern times, Henry VIII has become one of the most popular historical
kings of the English monarchy. This is mainly based on the common
perception of his larger than life character as an over-eating, womanising
bon vivant, which in turn is based on somewhat exaggerated or apocryphal
stories of his life. In 2002, Henry VIII placed fortieth in a BBC-sponsored
poll on the 100 Greatest Britons.
Henry VIII was the subject of William Shakespeare's historical play,
Henry VIII: All Is True. The play, however, has never been one of
Shakespeare's more popular plays. Curiously, it was Henry VIII that
was playing on June 29, 1613 when the Globe Theatre burnt down.
There have been many films about Henry and his court. Two that bear
mention are The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933), starring Charles
Laughton, whose performance earned him an Academy Award, and The Six
Wives of Henry VIII (1972), starring Keith Michell. In addition, Richard
Burton was nominated for an Academy Award for his Henry opposite Genevieve
Bujold's Anne Boleyn in Anne of the Thousand Days (1969).
Henry was almost certainly the inspiration for the title of the popular
song "I'm Henry the Eighth, I am" (1911), recorded by Harry
Champion and later by Herman's Hermits; the actual song, however,
is about a man named Henry whose wife has been married to seven different
individuals, all named Henry.
An episode of the 1960s American sitcom Bewitched had Samantha Stevens
staving off a lustful Henry's intentions to make her his next wife.
Sid James played Henry in the movie Carry On Henry (1970), which portrayed
the relationship between the King and two fictitious wives ("Marie
of Normandy" and "Bettina", a mistress). In 1973 Rick
Wakeman released a rock concept album on The Six Wives of Henry VIII,
his first solo album after splitting from Yes. Henry's life was the
subject of a famous but inaccurate Simpsons television episode from
2004, in which Homer Simpson played the King.
Style and arms
Henry VIII was the first English monarch to regularly use the style
"Majesty", though the alternatives "Highness"
and "Grace" were also used from time to time.
Several changes were made to the royal style during his reign. Henry
originally used the style "Henry the Eighth, by the Grace of
God, King of England, France and Lord of Ireland." In 1521, pursuant
to a grant from Pope Leo X rewarding a book by Henry attacking Martin
Luther and defending Catholicism, the royal style became "Henry
the Eighth, by the Grace of God, King of England and France, Defender
of the Faith and Lord of Ireland." After the breach with Rome,
Pope Paul III rescinded the grant of the title "Defender of the
Faith," but an Act of Parliament declared that it remained valid.
In 1535, Henry added the "supremacy phrase" to the royal
style, which became "Henry the Eighth, by the Grace of God, King
of England and France, Defender of the Faith, Lord of Ireland and
of the Church of England in Earth Supreme Head." In 1536, the
phrase "of the Church of England" changed to "of the
Church of England and also of Ireland".
In 1542, Henry changed the title "Lord of Ireland" to "King
of Ireland" after being advised that many Irish people regarded
the Pope as the true head of their country, with the Lord acting as
a mere representative. The style "Henry the Eighth, by the Grace
of God, King of England, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith
and of the Church of England and also of Ireland in Earth Supreme
Head" remained in use until the end of Henry's reign.
Henry VIII's arms were the same as those used by his predecessors
since Henry IV: Quarterly, Azure three fleurs-de-lys Or (for France)
and Gules three lions passant guardant in pale Or (for England).
Issue
Name
Birth Death Notes
By Catherine of Aragon
Henry, Prince of Wales 1 January 1511 22 February 1511
Unnamed son November 1513 November 1513
Unnamed son December 1514 December 1514
HM Queen Mary I 18 February 1516 13 September 1558 married 1554,
Philip of Spain; no issue
By Anne Boleyn
HM Queen Elizabeth I 7 September 1533 24 March 1603
Unnamed son 29 January 1536 29 January 1536
By Jane Seymour
HM King Edward VI 12 October 1537 6 July 1553 |
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